US To Continue Developing Missile Defense

Feb 9, 2009
By John M. Doyle



The U.S. wants to “reset” its rocky relationship with Russia, but intends to continue developing a missile defense shield to counter threats posed by Iran and other rogue states, Vice President Joe Biden says.

Speaking at the 45th Munich Security Conference in Germany Feb. 7, Biden said it was time “to press the reset button” on the U.S. relationship with Russia and “revisit the many areas where we can and should work together.”

Working together

Biden said those areas include nuclear nonproliferation and dealing with the Taliban and al Qaeda in Afghanistan. Biden even said the U.S. would consult with Russia – as well as NATO allies – before deploying its planned missile defense system in Eastern Europe. But he didn’t say the program would be halted, as Moscow has demanded.

“We will continue to develop missile defenses to counter a growing Iranian capability, provided the technology is proven to work and cost-effective,” Biden said. That was a campaign pledge of President Barack Obama.

Relations between the U.S. and Russia have been strained since the Bush administration announced plans to put ground-based missile interceptors and a radar warning system in Eastern Europe. Things got worse after Russia invaded Georgia. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev threatened to target Eastern Europe with short-range Iskander ballistic missiles based in Kaliningrad after it was announced the interceptors would be based in Poland and the radar in the Czech Republic.

The Russians later eased up, saying they welcomed the Obama administration’s plans to “review” the missile defense program – although there has been no overt comment by the new administration about curtailing missile deployment.

Positive talks

Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov called Biden’s comments on missile defense “very positive” following a bilateral meeting between the two Feb. 8. Two days earlier the State Department expressed “regret” that Russia planned to establish military bases in the two breakaway regions of Georgia – Abkhazia and South Ossetia – which sparked the August 2008 war.

In his speech, Biden said the U.S. will not recognize Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states. “We will not recognize a [Russian] sphere of influence,” Biden added.

The Munich conference is an annual gathering of government officials and defense policy experts to discuss trans-Atlantic security issues. At the State Department Feb. 9, a spokesman said “the relationship” between the U.S. and Russia “is a very complex one, but we want to move forward.”

Photo: DoD